Monday Afternoon

Still trying to find our way through this dang coronavirus.  Today's count was nearly 100 more new cases than yesterday's. That makes me nervous.  Or should I say, more nervous than usual?  The Husband keeps telling me that that nasty adversary is working hard at me, pecking away at every good thought, working on me.  And yes, it does feel like that. But still....is this never going to end?

Lots of trash cans

Clouds, this morning. 

Yesterday was our ward's turn for the church building for our church-at-church meetings.  Our ward was divided into two sacrament meetings.  I was invited to play the organ for the hymns. Makes no sense to me that it was more appealing / less stressful to do that (which was essentially three organ solos) than playing for the congregation to sing. But it was.  And I did ok.  Made a couple mistakes but not glaringly so.  Since we aren't singing and actually all the hymnbooks were put away, the Bishop announced the hymns and I played while I hoped people pulled the songs up on their phones and read the words.  If I had to choose, I'd say the words to the hymns are barely marginally more important than the music.  Though that's a tough call.  Depends:  on the whole song, the words, the music and my mood.  The first meeting of our ward had about 75 people there, ours was about half that.  But still, it was nice.  There were lots of people missing that I'd expected to see.  But again, I'm thinking it's the climbing case numbers that's keeping people away.  Though I've heard multiple times that people are really enjoying church-at-home. 

Such a pretty lane.

We've been exploring new-to-us areas of the city on our morning walks.  I just love this little lane - it's really private property - but no one seems to care if we walk it. It leads to a quiet neighborhood bordering a golf course that I didn't even know was there.  And yup, the houses were intimidating in their grandeur.  One place had garage space for 9 vehicles.  I can't even comprehend owning that many let alone paying for insurance on them. 

Speaking of cars, the daughter's car is back from the shop.  The body work is great, it looks like it should.  I'm so happy for her to have her own transport back.  Both The Husband and I are being uber careful when backing our cars. 

Sad broken tree.

Early Sunday morning I was woken by the power going off.  Something electric in the bedroom gives a little chirp, not like any other chirp.  It wasn't off long, maybe half an hour or so.  Our morning walk revealed that there'd been some damage.  I had heard the winds.  Lots and lots of trees down.  The picture over at Draper park?  There was a long line of trash cans all blown over (I only managed to get a pic of some of them).  The yellow spots are the lids laying open.  The tree lost a big old limb.  It was a fierce wind that made me glad our windows were closed and we were snug and safe in bed. 

The fire that some brilliant person started (using fireworks illegally) just over the mountain from us is mostly contained.  The evacuees have been let back into their homes and the rain and humid air has definitely helped.  Saratoga Springs has a massive fire (the Knolls fire, lightning caused) that is going to take some time to extinguish.  Thousands of people are evacuated.  There again, the weather has been beneficial.  But still.  In the winter I worry about the cold and snow and accidents that are caused by it.  In the summer it's fire that's the worry.  This is a desert with lots of brush lined hills and undeveloped land.  Once those fires start there's not much to slow them down.  Yes, scary.

And The Husband brought in some carrots and peas from the garden. He's a good gardener.  Though this year it seems harder to find enthusiasm for much of anything.  We experimented with cauliflower for the first time. Didn't know
that once those little heads form it only takes about a week before they're ready for harvest.  By the time we tumbled to that fact, it'd been several weeks and they were way beyond salvage.  Learning something new all the time.

Am grateful today for being able to try to avoid the virus in a comfy place. For books to read - even books from the library.  For projects to do - even cleaning out drawers.  For an email from a friend.  And for a tiny break from the heat.  It's been a decent Monday so far.